History of Vietnam War

History of Vietnam War

Social Studies 

Connor Monkhouse

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Introduction

The Vietnam War was fought in Vietnam, which is located in the South East Asia. The war represented a success in an attempt on the side of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in North Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam which had to unite and impose a communist system of operation over the entire nation. This was opposed by the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) which was based in South Vietnam, and was supported by the United States. The Vietnam War is viewed as an indirect conflict which existed between the United States and Soviet Union, with each state taking the side. This was during the cold war times (Dale, 1995).

The Post World War II Vietnam

The major causes of the Vietnam War draw their roots during the end of World War II, where the French colony, which is Indochina (this had comprised of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), had been taken over by the Japanese during the war. It was in 1941, when this was resisted by a Vietnamese nationalist group (Viet Minh) formed by Ho Chi Minh. The movement under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh with the support of American used a guerilla war to fight the Japanese. It was at the conclusion of the war; when the Japanese started to advance Vietnamese nationalism and eventually established the nominal independence for Vietnam.

With the Japanese defeat, the French came back to take control yet again of their colony. French entrance was only granted by the Viet Minh subject of assurances that the country had to be given independence as part of the French Union. It was in December 1946, when the discussion collapsed and hence the French besieged the city of Haiphong and later forcibly conquered the capital (Hanoi). The war (First Indochina war) started with Viet Minh resisting French. The conflict came to an end in 1954 when the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. The war was eventually brought down by Geneva Accords which was drafted in 1954, which provisionally partitioned the state in 17th parallel, the Viet Minh (communist) being put in control of the North Vietnam and the South Vietnam under Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. This partition was to exist till 1956, when national elections were to be held to come to a decision the future of the country.

The Politics of American Involvement in Vietnam War

At first, the United States had little interest in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, nevertheless it became obvious that the post-World War II was to be dominated by the US and its associates and the Soviet Union and its partners, isolating communist actions took an augmented significance. The concern was at last shaped into the dogma of containment and domino hypothesis. In 947, containment primarily recognized that the objective of Communism was to extend to capitalist states and hence the just means to end it was to “contain” it inside the current boundaries (Dale,1995). Coming out from containment was the perception of domino theory which affirmed that if any state in the region were to fall to Communism, next will be the neighboring states as well. These concepts were meant to govern and direct US foreign guidelines greatly in the Cold War.

It was in 1950, when the United States began to supply the French military in Vietnam with advisors and funding its efforts of combating the communism. The US efforts continued in 1956, when it provided the advisors to train the army of the new Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Regardless of US best hard work, the superiority of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) remained time and again poor during its existence.

HYPERLINK “http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/VietnamOrigins.htm” Causes of the Conflict

The dated periods for the conflict are 1959-1975, which began with North Vietnam first launching a guerilla attacks against the South and ended with the fall of Saigon. The United States ground forces were directly involved in the war between 1965 and 1973, by training the army of the Republic of Vietnam who were advocating for a democratic government under the leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem. The American provided the military advisors who tried hard to combat the guerillas advocating for communist rule from the north under Ho Chi Minh.

It was in August 1964 when a US warship was attacked by torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. The US Congress passed the South East Asia Resolution which made it possible for President Lyndon Johnson to undertake military operations in the region without a declaration of war, following the attack. It was on March 2nd, 1965, when US aircraft began to bomb the targets in Vietnam and this contributed to the arrival of their first troops who were commanded by General William Westmoreland. The US troops won this battle over the North Vietnamese forces in Chu Lai and Ia Drang Valley that summer (Benedict 2005).

When North Vietnam were defeated, and therefore avoided to fight conventional wars and thereafter resorted on engaging US troops in small battles in South Vietnam. During January 1968, they (North Vietnamese and Viet Cong) launched the massive Tet Offensive, which began with an assault on US Marines at Khe Sanh and proceeded with attacks by the Viet Cong on cities throughout South Vietnam (Dale, 1995). The US having fought hard they defeated again the North Vietnamese with heavy casualties, this made Tet to shook with the confidence of the American people and even the media who had thought the war was going well.

With the assassination of John Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson was elected and did not opt not to go for the next term because of Tet issue and was succeeded by Richard Nixon, whose plan of ending the war was to form a strong Army for the RVN so that they could fight the war on their .This process was referred to as Vietnamization, and led to US troops returning home. The situation at Tet started to worsen in 1969, when it was made public that US troops were massacring the North Vietnamese people at My Lai area, the raid of Cambodia in 1970 and the public leak of information about the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The taking out of US soldiers made it possible for more accountability to be passed to the ARVN, this proved that the squad was inefficient and ineffective in combating, hence it mostly relied on US support in counteracting their enemies (Larry, 1991).

Casualties of the war

It was approximated that during Vietnam War, about 58,119 Americans were killed, with 153,303 sustaining injuries and 1,948 lost in action. Casualty statistics for the Republic of Vietnam are projected at 230,000 that were killed and 1,169,763 injured. Combining both the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong, about 1,100,000 were killed in action and an unidentified number of injured. It is however anticipated that between 2 to 4 million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the war.

Key Figures in Vietnam War

Ho Chi Minh – Communist leader of North Vietnam.

Vo Nguyen Giap – North Vietnamese General who designed the Tet and Easter Offensives.

General William Westmoreland – The Commander of American forces in Vietnam, during 1964-1968.

General Creighton Abrams – Commander of US forces in Vietnam, during 1968-1973.

Ngo Dinh Diem- Democrat leader of South Vietnam

End of the War and the fall of Saigon

The Paris Peace Accords was signed in January 27, 1973 which was meant to end the conflict and was followed by the removal of the remaining American soldiers. The terms of these accords called for a total ceasefire in South Vietnam, permitted North Vietnamese forces to keep the territory they had captured, free US prisoners of war, and called for both sides to find a lasting political solution to the existing conflict (Benedict 2005). As an incentive to Thieu, Nixon presented US airpower to put in force the peace terms.

The end of the war was marked by the withdrawal of US soldiers and the passing of more responsibility to the ARVN. This proved ineffective on the side of ARVN in combating, and they heavily relied on American support despite their withdrawal to stave off defeat. It was on January 27, 1974, when a peace accord was signed in Paris to end the conflict, by March, the American combat soldiers had left the country. With US forces having gone out of the country, South Vietnam stood alone. Its situation came to worsen in December 1974, when US Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, cutting off all military aid. The act further removed the threat of air strikes should North Vietnam break the terms of the accords (Larry, 1991).

Having a short period of peace, the communist took the advantage of the current situation and started again the fighting in late 1974. They pushed through ARVN forces with a lot of ease, since they were caught unaware and captured the Saigon on April 30, 1975, this forced South Vietnam’s give up and reunite the country. With the North Vietnamese storming through the south and finally capturing Saigon. The southern Vietnam surrendered on April 30, 1975, because of the fall of its capital. After thirty years of war, Ho Chi Minh’s vision of a unified, communist Vietnam had been realized.

References

Benedict J. (2005), The Power of Everyday Politics: How Vietnamese Peasants Transformed National Policy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Dale Andradé, (1995), Trial by Fire: The 1972 Easter Offensive, America’s Last Vietnam Battle. New York: Hippocrene.

Larry Cable, (1991), Unholy Grail: The US and the Wars in Vietnam. New York: Routledge.